Heckapoo's Trials
by Wick Nilde
Summary: By stepping through the first portal, Marco didn't realize fully what he was getting into. That ship has sailed though, and now Marco has vowed to get back what was taken, no matter how long it takes. Not just for himself, but for the one he calls his best friend. After all, how long could it possibly take?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Not really sure what motivated me to write this. I remember watching the episode with the whole 16 years thing, and I thought to myself: "Someone could write a whole lot about that". Anyways, it sparked my imagination a bit, but there was only one thing. I see a lot of stories about the destination (when he comes home), but never the actual journey, which I find sad because the actual journey would be far more interesting. That's just my opinion. Hence, I tried writing a bit about it, and what came to me was this whole,** ** _trials_** **vibe. I would love to take it further, at least until I hit a writer's block. I should probably return to writing "something that I should have finished", but no one needs to know. Enjoy, for I shamefully admit I enjoy these types of cartoons. Haha.**

* * *

 **Mountain of the Mirror World (Part 1)**

"Just a little bit more…" Marco gasped as he struggled his way up the steep cliff. Sitting ten feet above him, with her legs dangling over the rocky face, was his goal. A demon (or something) with an eternal flame flickering tauntingly over her head.

"Ha! Ha! Just give it up flesh wad. Even if you get up here, you still gotta catch me~" she taunted as she checked out her nails, seemingly bored.

Marco's arms shook as he thought about his predicament. Currently, he was ninety feet up in the air, hanging onto sharp rocks. His hands were already bloody from the repeated attempts to scale the wall-like mountain barehanded, and his hoody was soaked with sweat from the effort.

'Man, I am going to have to wash it later' Marco thought sullenly, as if that was his biggest problem right now.

"Never!" he finally responded to Heckapoo's taunt after panting for a bit. Amazingly, this was actually the second cliff Marco had to climb, and even then, that wasn't the end. From what Marco had discovered after walking through one of the original portals she left in the clearing, this…

'wait… dimension? realm? world?' Marco wasn't too sure at this point.

Anyways, this _place_ was incredibly strange, Marco had thought. 'Not at all like Earth or Mewni'.

For one thing, the sky was purple, like _deep_ purple. Similar to a plum, one of Marco's favorite fruits (and colors). The trees surrounding the mountain he was on stretched far off into the horizon to what seemed to be infinity, and they were disfigured, not to mention blue and adorned with red circular shaped leaves. Yup, they were strange all right.

Even the supposed sun, or more accurately… _suns_ , were odd. There appeared to be two, but they were totally unnatural. One was completely black, and the other white, and Marco couldn't understand how they produced light.

'Maybe it's just magic" Marco had surmised, completely convinced that there were some things he just had to accept if he wanted to stay sane, much like living with Star, his friend that he wished to return to as soon as he got her back her scissors.

"Oooooooh, lokie here~! Mr. Tough Guy here has almost made it to the second level! Clap! Clap!" Heckapoo taunted, the sarcasm oozing from her voice as Marco gained another five feet up the cliff side, small rocks tumbling down. From Marco's perspective, her legs almost appeared within grabbing distance, but he knew from experience that it wouldn't be that easy.

Marco grit his teeth, the frustration evident, but he was too tired and too close to his goal to really form a response. She was _so_ close!

'Just a tiny bit more…' thought Marco, as he braced his legs for the final push. He held a tiny bit of hope that he would be able to catch her off guard when he finally jumped the last few feet. He got himself into position, and… JUMPED. Heckapoo's legs disappeared out of reach as Marco grasped the ledge and hauled himself over. He was beyond exhausted, but he couldn't waste this chance.

Standing up shakily, he began to give chase. Naturally, she ran like the wind towards the next cliff, and there was no way he could catch her. But, refusing to admit defeat so easily, he stumbled for another fifty feet before coming to a dead stop. He had come to another cliff face that was exactly the same as the last one. Looking up, he saw Heckapoo sitting on the edge waving down at him.

"Hey there dum-dum~" she smiled as she waved

Marco sank to his knees, irritated beyond belief. Another obstacle preventing him from reaching his goal. Another hurdle he would have to eventually overcome. Another cliff face, the third one.

'How many can there be!?' He roared in his mind as he stared blankly at the wall. Marco sat there, slumped over in exhaustion. As he caught his breath while wallowing in his own sweaty misery, he saw something shine in his eye.

'Huh?'

The sudden distraction shook him from his grief and he glanced towards the source. Sitting there, embedded into the ground, was a weird stone.

Plucking it from the dirt, he saw that it was a very unique rock that reflected everything like a mirror, as if the surface of the uneven stone was carved from an actual mirror. He hadn't seen anything like it on the first two levels of the mountain before, just regular old rocks.

"You give up yet~? Heckapoo yelled from her perch on top of the 100-foot-high cliff. Marco, heard her, and swallowed his frustration.

'One day, I will get you, and this will all be worth it' Marco thought to himself as he pocketed the cool looking stone, deciding to keep it as an emotional consolation prize. Looking up at his adversary, he yelled in annoyance "How about instead of saying "I give up" like you want me to, you just send me back like always?"

Heckapoo finally frowned at that, and took out her scissors. Cutting the air in front of her, two portals opened next to Marco, one orange and red, the other light pink and blue. Marco knew exactly where both of them went, and even more so, their meaning. One was saying "Stay and continue", the other "Give up and go home".

"Just like always" Marco sighed to himself. Looking at both like the many time before, his gaze lingered a bit longer on the pink and blue one, staring wistfully. But, as he always did, he walked towards the red one.

"You know you should just give up. There is no way you can win" Heckapoo warned casually, for what felt like the millionth time.

Marco's steps never faltered as he walked up to the "Stay and Continue" portal.

"I don't believe that. No matter how long it takes, I WILL get those scissor!s" he shot back defiantly.

Heckapoo shrugged and stopped speaking.

Before Marco stepped through the portal, however, he looked back at a smiling Heckapoo who said these simple words: "In that case, have a nice swim, loser".

Marco stepped through, and immediately fell through the air straight into a pool of fresh water. Marco wasn't surprised at all though, because this was how she usually sent him back. Swimming to the shore, he crawled out the water into the mud before glancing up.

'Yup, still there' Marco noticed angrily while a scowl formed on his face. A wooden sign was hammered into the ground in front of the lake with the words "Loser Lake" written on it. He had once tried to kick it down, but it was like the sword in the stone, unmovable, likely thanks to magic. It's meaning was clear as day though. Marco had failed once again at catching her, and she sent him back to the same spot, a small lake in the woods near the mountain.

'And it's not even the real her, just one of her clones' Marco reminded himself bitterly. He felt little hope in ever beating her, but there was one thing he refused to call himself, and that was a "quitter". Especially if he was doing this for his best friend. He refused to let her down.

Stepping out of the mud, Marco slid his hoody off, careful not to aggravate his cut-up hands, and wrung it out, hanging it on a nearby branch to dry. Dawning the gait similar to the "walk of shame", he glumly strutted over to the little hut he had built next to the lake made of sticks from the weird looking trees and covered with their round red leaves. Strolling a little past it, he approached his objective: a pile of pumpkin size, pear shaped fruits that were blue with yellow stripes.

When he first got here, he thought the fruits produced by the trees were poisonous due to their color, but hunger makes a person take risks. Fortunately, he quickly learned that the fruits were not only **not** poisonous (thank god), but they also were incredibly delicious. Marco always felt completely energized after eating them which he thought meant that they were super healthy…ish. He just hoped he wouldn't grow an extra leg or third eye or something, being in a magical place with magical fruits.

Oh, and there was one more thing about the fruits that Marco discovered, much to his pleasant surprise. Carefully picking one up, he smashed it onto a rock, splattering the delicious juices everywhere. Meticulously, he rubbed his wounded hands in the juices. After experiencing this many times, Marco was used to the burning pain that accompanied the fruits special effect.

After five minutes, Marco looked at his hands. They were completely healed, not a scratch.

'Still amazes me…' Marco thought as licked the juice off his healed hands. He had wondered if maybe he could bring some of these back one day. Maybe sell them for a good price.

'Like 650 dollars apiece' Marco nodded to himself, satisfied with his internal business plan, as if it would ever come to fruit-ion, pun intended.

Before he returned to eating though, a thought struck him like a thunderbolt and he shivered all over.

"Eughhhhhhh, wet socks. I can't believe I forgot!" Marco yelled as he ripped his shoes off and pulled off the saggy crimes against nature. He quickly hung them on the branch next to his hoodie.

"You disgust me!" he spoke with venom to his socks, which sat there as usual, absorbing their abuse with dignity. Returning to his makeshift tent, he sat down and began eating the fruit he had stockpiled while glancing over to the mountain in the distance.

"Mountain" In Marco's opinion, was not the most accurate description. It looked more like a layered cake. The side rose straight up, plateaued out, then rose right back up again. He theorized that it just kept doing this as it approached the center. He wasn't certain because the mountain had a certain feature: he could not see past the first two "cake layers".

There was some kind of fog blocking his vision. He could not see past the first two walls. Only when he reached another level could he see a bit further up. It was just like…

"Magic…" Marco muttered under his breath as he stared out into the distance.

'God I miss Star…I miss everyone' Marco thought sadly. He sometimes wondered if this was worth it just to get some stupid scissors back, but then he thought about what Star would do, and his doubts flew away.

"She would work tirelessly to help her friends" Marco affirmed.

While he contemplated the meaning of his suffering, Marco finished eating several fruits, already feeling much better. Even the soreness from climbing went away, and Marco felt a boost in his spirits. In spite of repeated failures, he at least felt like he was getting stronger.

'I will get to the top, mark my words' he mentally shouted as he stared at the mountain in the distance. He believed that the only way to catch her was to reach the top. If his theory was correct, she would have nowhere to run at the top, unless she used a portal. Then again, this was a test… she wouldn't make it impossible right?

With this realization, Marco shuddered.

'What if she is just messing with me? What if she intends to never let me succeed? What if…?'

Marco thoughts went haywire as he imagined worse and worse scenarios in his head. He felt an irrational anger build up like a dam inside him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" the dam burst as Marco roared in anger and he punched the nearest tree, which he immediately regretted. The "magical" trees here were as hard as steel.

*Crunch*

"AHHHHHHHHHHRGH!"

Marco rolled along the dirt ground in agony as he spouted out almost-vulgarities while cradling his hand in an attempt to ease the pain.

Meanwhile

Heckapoo sat on her couch inside her cozy little tree trunk house. The warmth from the nearby lava helped her relax as she enjoyed her new favorite pastime, observing the little flesh-wad struggle. She had to admit, he was probably the most interesting candidate for her trials she had ever encountered.

She had special rules when it came to giving out her hand-made scissors. If the requesting party was royalty and were recognized by the magic high-commission, they would be gifted scissors as a show of support and to strengthen alliances.

However, in every other case, the being who wanted a pair of his/her scissors for their own would have to pass her trials, no exceptions. Usually, most who came to accept her challenge knew of the risks and the nature of the trials. They would come prepared, well trained, and ready to spend a VERY long time before succeeding.

Naturally, the human boy she was watching now had none of those things. He wasn't trained, wasn't prepared, and didn't even know about the special time restrictions of her dimension. Yet, he didn't give up, no matter how many times he failed. If nothing else, she admired his tenacity, or maybe stupidity. She had not yet decided.

'Yup, definitely the most interesting one~' she hummed to herself as she watched Marco through one of her invisible portals. It was a sneaky little trick she kept to herself, the ability to make invisible portals for observing other people. Although, she could only make them in her dimension, which was a bummer.

Per her usual routine, after she sent him away, she came back to her home and began watching him. Being immortal, she didn't need sleep and time was irrelevant. Since she had so much time on her hands, being in this special dimension, she took things very relaxed and slow.

Portaling in a leg couch, she put her legs up and reclined her chair. Grabbing a box of her life time supply of cream puffs she brought from Mewni, (her favorite treat) she tossed some into her mouth as she watched the "Dramatic Tales of Marco" channel, hoping he would do something dramatic and funny that she found amusing.

Very early on, she found that Marco was very quirky and a spaz. For example, when she found out he hated wet socks with a passion, she nearly chocked on her snacks. She had laughed too hard. It was simply too amusing to see the scrawny human boy curse his socks.

Other times she observed that he would go into random rants or debate with himself about simple things that normal beings wouldn't care about. Put simply, he was a breath of fresh air in her very busy schedule. Although she liked to relax, the job of being on the magic high commission was not an easy one. Lots of magical disputes and phenomena that she was in charge of fixing.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

*Crunch*

"AHHHHHHHHHHRGH!"

Heckapoo snapped out her reverie and focused once again on the Marco channel. She was stunned to see that Marco has just screamed and punched a tree, seemingly for no reason. Right now, he was rolling around on the ground yelling out near-curses that were so "viscous", they would have made even nuns proud.

Heckapoo lost it.

"PUAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHA" *snort* "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Heckapoo glanced at the portal once more…

"GUAHAHAAHHAAHHAHAHA…"

…

…

…

After a solid minute of laughing, she collected herself and picked up the fallen cream puffs that had dropped when she fell to the floor from laughter.

'Oh my god…' she rubbed a tear from her eye. 'This guy is too funny'

She continued to watch Marco, hoping he would continue to amuse her.

Back at the Lake

The pain faded until it was a dull ache. Marco picked himself back up, feeling foolish at his own stupidity. He rubbed his hand.

'Luckily, it's not broken…' he thought abashedly. 'Good thing no one saw that' he nodded in relief to himself (If only he knew).

He looked up at the sky. The white sun was beginning to merge with the black sun in the sky. To Marco, who had been here a while, this meant that there were only two more hours till it got dark.

Marco went over and grabbed his hoodie. Walking to the lake, he scrubbed it till it was clean, or at least didn't smell like sweat, and hung it back on the branch.

Stopping suddenly, Marco remembered something he had to do. Walking towards a very specific tree, he picked up a sharp rock that he kept next to it for a very specific purpose. Marco crouched, his face devoid of any humor, and began to carefully carve something onto the tree, which actually took quite a while since they were so tough.

"There" Marco huffed as he finished. On the tree, there was another dash mark, next to many other dash marks. If someone added them up it would add to…

"Three months" Marco whispered to himself. "One day, just you wait Heckapoo. I will beat you" Marco declared softly, a mantra he had been repeating every day since recently.

Done with his own personal pep talk, he took off his undershirt and hung it on the branch next to his hoodie. Smelling it, he snorted.

'Meh, I'll wash it later'

Now very shirtless, he grabbed the nearest branch and attempted to do pull-ups. After about five, he could not continue and dropped to the ground.

'Need to get stronger. Five is not enough' Marco told himself

Climbing those mountains really took a lot of energy. Marco was very healthy when it came to conditioning thanks to his karate practice, but what he was lacking in was strength, and he knew he needed more if he ever wanted to reach the top.

Marco continued to exercise.

Heckapoo's Home

Heckapoo watched as her little drama king began to do push-ups.

'Ha, that's cute. He's got little noodle arms. Awwwwww~' she cooed to the screen.

'He will never reach the top' she smirked as she "changed the channel". After all, it wasn't very interesting to watch a scrawny boy exercise.

Stopping when she saw something she liked, she paused the portal.

"Ohhhhhh gladiators of the sword dimension. Cool" she said as the fighters clashed onscreen. Heckapoo buried herself deeper into the couch, getting cozy.

Marco had, for the moment, been totally forgotten.

Back at the Lake

Marco finished just as the light went dark and the white sun was eclipsed by the black sun. Tired as hell, with the sweat rolling off his back, he jumped into the lake to clean himself off. Stepping out, he ate one of the fruits to help with his recovery as he climbed into his little home.

Curling a bunch of the leaves around himself to act as a blanket, Marco felt the effects of the fruit take effect, and his tiredness came back in full force. Marco curled tighter around himself in an attempt to preserve warmth. It wasn't exactly cold at night, but it wasn't warm either. Finding a comfortable position, Marco took out the special stone he found earlier out of his pocket. He looked at himself through the distorted reflection of the stone in the failing light.

By now, Marco had stopped thinking too far ahead, because that would only make him depressed. Marco now began to think one day at a time, which he found to be far more manageable. Looking into his reflection, he whispered "Don't worry Star, I will be back before you know it…" as he slowly drifted into the land of infinite possibilities. For the time being, Marco's dreams were _his_ dimensional scissors, they could take him wherever he wanted. Home.

* * *

 **Any mistakes or typos, let me know please! Perhaps the voice inside my head telling me to write stuff will finally calm down now.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Yea, finished this a few days ago, didn't have time to upload. I love imagining the pair's dynamic and antics they would get into.**

* * *

 **Mountain of the Mirror World (Part 2)**

Heckapoo sat on the first level of the mountain with her legs dangling off, waiting for a certain red-hoodied flesh-wad to show up.

"He's late" she muttered as she stared at the forest in the distance, expecting to see a splotch of red any second stumbling through the trees.

'Maybe he overslept?' The thought flickered through her mind like a candle before another thought blew it out.

'He has never been late before…'

Heckapoo had her head resting in her hand as she tapped her cheek, trying to think of a reason why he hadn't shown up yet. She thought of many possibilities, but none seemed to make any sense. There was a barrier around every other spot on the mountain so Marco couldn't be trying to climb from another spot and sneak up on her. There was nothing dangerous here, monster or otherwise, that could hurt him…

'Besides his stupidity' she smiled with that thought, scenes of him punching a tree, kicking a rock, and falling into a hole flashing through her mind.

…so that possibility was out. Maybe he was trying to find his way out of the woods? Nah, he had to have known by now that it would magically lead him back to the same spot. The only way out of here was to give up. Heckapoo decided there was no point in guessing, she would be patient and wait like a proper lady. She took a meditating position.

…

…

…

…Five seconds later…

"GAHHH! WHERE IS HE!" Heckapoo suddenly exploded with anger, flames dancing all around her body. Despite being immortal, patience really wasn't her strong suit.

Pulling out her scissors, she quickly slashed open a small portal with the thought of the flesh-wad in mind. When she gazed into it, she was so stunned that the flames surrounding her body all died as her jaw hung open. Marco was sitting on a rock wearing a straw hat… 'where did he even get that?' wondered Heckapoo… holding a stick tied to a line that was cast out into the la…

Heckapoo's flames returned in full force, a physical manifestation of her raw anger.

"He…is…FISHING!? THAT GOOD FOR NOTHING MEATBAG DARES TO BLOW ME OFF!?" Heckapoo roared into the sky, her flames enacting a scorched earth policy to her surroundings.

She knew immediately what she was going to do. She was going to teach him a lesson. Opening a portal as quietly as she could, she stepped through, careful not to make any sounds.

Peering from behind the tree she portaled behind, a devious cat-like smile appeared on her face. She began to sneakily walk from the tree line over to where Marco was sitting. He wasn't moving, and the only way she could tell that he was alive was the rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed.

Heckapoo could take insults, she could handle pain, she could handle losing, but the one thing she could not tolerate was being outright IGNORED.

'Gonna burn that straw hat right off his stupid head' she decided as an evil Cheshire-cat like smile blossomed on her face. She was only around ten feet away from Marco, still not making a sound. It was so quiet, that she could almost hear Marco's breaths.

Five feet…

Three feet…

As Heckapoo approached, she raised her hand, ready to strike down and slap the back of his head hard. Just before she got close enough though, something happened she did not expect. Marco spoke…

"Hey there Heckapoo"

Like a startled cat, or more like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar, Heckapoo jumped fifteen feet in the air, landing on a tree in the distance. She had been so sure of her surprise that Marco's sudden comment startled the hell out of her.

Meanwhile, Marco had his head turned by then, as had seen as she jumped like a cat all the way over to a nearby tree. He started laughing.

Heckapoo's face burned red, she actually had been startled by the measly human boy. A shame she would feel for a long time. And his laughter at her expense was not helping her mood. She raised her right hand…

Marco stopped laughing long enough to realize just how screwed he was. He tossed aside his fishing rod while jumping into the lake at the last second, a crater forming where the fireball that Heckapoo threw landed, followed by a large deafening explosion. The rock he was sitting on ceased to exist.

Marco surfaced, thoroughly frightened by the blazing woman.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! Please don't kill me!" he shouted in fear as he saw another fireball forming in Heckapoo's hand. The fireball slowly dispersed, to Marco's relief, but then Heckapoo jumped once again, right to the side of the lake. Marco cowered beneath the surface of the water, only his eyes showing, afraid that Heckapoo would launch another fireball.

'She is one frightening woman, I think…' thought Marco as he noticed Heckapoo's blazing orange eyes watching him, flames dancing around her body. Neither made a move though, and Heckapoo's eyes slowly returned to normal as the flames died around her body. Marco though, made no move to come out of the lake, still afraid that her temper would flare up again.

Then with a frown, Heckapoo pointed at Marco, then to the ground at her feet. The gesture was clear…get over here. Marco gulped, deciding it would not be the best idea to ignore her order in her current state. Swimming back to shore, he crawled out before standing up in front of his nemesis, feeling like a soggy mess. The tingling from his wet feet was not helping his expression.

Heckapoo suddenly moved, far too fast to dodge when they were only feet apart.

"EEEP" Marco shrieked as he threw his arms up in defense while closing his eyes. Nothing happened though. Marco was sure she was going to incinerate him, but Marco never felt any pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and he saw Heckapoo's finger poking him in the chest. He looked at her face, and found her eyes boring holes into his, her sarcastic nature completely absent, which Marco found unsettling.

"You will tell…NO ONE…about this. Understand?" she accentuated each word carefully.

Marco nodded like a bobble head, and accepting his gesture as sufficient, Heckapoo huffed as she crossed her arms, looking at Marco with a scowl.

Marco on the other hand, felt very awkward right now. He was soaked, and his wet socks were constantly bugging him. He wanted nothing more than to take his socks off and get back to fishing. Sadly, the irate Heckapoo was scowling at him, and he had no form of escape.

"How did you know?" Heckapoo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Marco shrugged, which irked the already pissed off woman.

"I don't know…I heard a sort of… ringing in my ears and I guess I… I suddenly felt that you would show up. It's kind of hard to explain…" Marco explained while rubbing the back of his head.

Marco's incredibly ambiguous answer sent shockwaves in Heckapoo's mind, but she let nothing show on her face as she continued to scowl at him.

'It normally takes them years to figure that out, but this little punk did it in less than one…impressive' She thought, remembering her many previous contestants. What Marco didn't know was that when a portal was created with a certain being in mind, there would be a very slight resonance between the portal and the person of thought.

Normally, the contestants would take a very long time before they could sense the resonance between the two, but this boy seemed to already unconsciously sense the connection, but he didn't even know…

'I don't know whether to call him a genius for being able to sense it so quickly, or a moron for not figuring it out' thought Heckapoo as she reevaluated the scrawny boy in front of her.

Marco, on the other hand, took Heckapoo's silent glare as an accusation, thinking that she didn't believe him. He felt wronged, somehow.

"I'm not lying!" Marco defended. "I just sorta heard a ringing, and I felt you would show up. Also, I knew you were right behind me cause of this…WHAT!?"

Heckapoo flinched at his sudden exclamation.

Reaching into his pocket, Marco realized that he had been holding his mirror stone when she threw the fireball. He had dropped it in the water, along with his hand-made straw hat.

Marco immediately jumped back into the water without a second thought, leaving a stunned Heckapoo on the shore.

'What is this spaz doing?' she asked herself as she watched Marco's random behavior, diving under the water and resurfacing over and over.

"Haha! Found you!" Marco exclaimed as he raised the wet straw hat out of the water. "But where is…" Heckapoo couldn't hear what he said next before he dove back into the water.

'What is this fool looking for?' Heckapoo crossed her arms and watched the show. Marco continued to freak out as he searched of…whatever it was. Now Heckapoo was curious.

'What could possibly rile him up so much?' She wondered. Beginning to look around herself, she spotted a glimmer in the water near the shallows. Getting her feet wet, she walked over and picked it up, examining it quietly.

Heckapoo smiled. 'A mirror stone, is he serious?'

"Hey dum dum~"

Marco ceased his frantic search, a chill going down his spine at the teasing tone in Heckapoo's voice.

"Looking for this~?" she smirked as she held up the glittering stone.

Marco cursed in his mind as he saw Heckapoo holding up exactly what he was looking for. The stone. Sulking as he sloshed out of the water, Marco tossed his straw hat to the side as he walked up to the infernal woman/demon. Marco was more decided on demon at this point.

"Yes, now please give it back" Marco demanded, despite knowing how futile his demand would be.

"HA, you see…I would give it back buuuuuuuuut…you pissed me off, so now you got to work for it~" She laughed as she dangled it in front of him like a taunt.

Marco was in no mood for this. Not today of all days. He just wanted to be left alone.

"GAHHHHHHH" Marco roared as he flung off his shoes and socks and immediately gave chase as Heckapoo ran, laughing hysterically. To her, being chased by this hopeless skin bag was the highlight of her day. An endless source of amusement.

The chase lasted for hours, simply because Marco refused to give up. That stone meant a lot to him, and he refused to let her take it away from him. He chased her through the woods, and eventually up the mountain as he climbed to catch her.

Just like always, Heckapoo moved like the wind and was nigh-impossible to catch in a straight line. The only way to even approach her was to have her approach him, and the only way he could make that happen was to…

"CLIMB" Marco yelled in fury as he climbed past the third level, then the fourth…then the fifth. After the third level, more and more rocks and stones became like the mirror stone, seemingly cut from mirrors. He could see his own reflection in some of the rocks, but he was too focused on his goal to care that his feet were bleeding heavily. He had learned to ignore the pain.

After months and months of climbing, Marco's hands were very callused and tough, and he had gotten a lot stronger. Slowly but surely, he had made it higher and higher with each climb, eventually reaching the eighth level. He had speculated that there were ten levels, and soon he hoped he could reach the top. Maybe then he would have a chance.

About halfway up the seventh level, Marco's arms began to shake. His earlier fury and adrenaline had completely died off by this point, and he was running on sheer determination.

'Have to get it back' was the motto he kept thinking to himself to sustain his willpower. Everything hurt, especially his feet, and you can only ignore the pain for so long. By this point, most of the surrounding rocks resembled mirrors and were reflecting light like a large quartz deposit on a mountain, creating rainbows of colors. Marco actually had thought it was quite beautiful when he first made it there, but he was in no mood to admire the scenery now.

Marco looked up. Peering down on him was Heckapoo. Marco's eyes narrowed. She was sneering at him, with eyes that appeared to be full of contempt. Marco's blood boiled.

'Not this time' Marco grit his teeth. No matter what, he refused to let her gain a victory here. He WOULD get back his stone. No matter what.

Marco bellowed in exhaustion as he finally climbed over the edge of the eighth level. Marco looked at the sky as he lay on the ground. The two suns were much closer to each other, coming from each side of the sky. To Marco, it signified that it was sometime in the afternoon. He had been chasing her for many hours.

Heckapoo stood before the exhausted boy, looking down upon him. She was actually impressed by his perseverance, and she debated on whether or not she should continue the chase, just for kicks.

'Kinda want to see how far he would go for this…' she thought as she held up the stone in her hand, glancing in her reflection curiously.

'What's so special about it?' she wondered for the second time.

"Give…it…back!" Marco rasped out as he stared at Heckapoo's form towering over him.

Heckapoo smiled, and she turned around and casually began to walk away.

Marco rolled over and stood up shakily, then began to chase…more like limp… slowly after her. When they reached the wall of the next level, Heckapoo turned, smirked at the boy who was so close behind her. Pulling out her scissors, she slashed a portal behind herself, stepped in, and the portal closed just as Marco collapsed on his face in front of it. He had feebly tried to stop her.

Finding it incredibly difficult, Marco managed roll over and look up to the next level…the ninth level. Sitting there, just like every other time ever, was Heckapoo. Only this time, she was holding onto the stone…his stone.

"One more level dum dum, and you can have your stone back~" Heckapoo spoke with sweetness.

"Orrrrrr…" she held up her scissors… "You can just give up now. What do you say, huh~?"

Marco didn't say or do anything for quite some time. If fact, he had already closed his eyes. Heckapoo frowned and wondered if he passed out or something. But, contrary to her expectations, he stood himself up and began to climb once more.

Heckapoo watched in silence as Marco climbed, one rock at a time. The blood from his feet dripping down the reflective rock face, creating a macabre blood red glow on the rocks. Finally, after half an hour, Marco managed to reach the ninth level, for the first time.

Heckapoo marveled at the boy in front of her. Every time she pushed him, he would always exceed her expectations at what she thought he was capable of. Marco climbed over the edge, he slumped over seemingly about the fall, but he caught his body with his arms on the ground. Pushing back up, he leaned backwards and let out a long exhausted sigh as his arms dangled powerlessly behind him.

Heckapoo couldn't help but wince as she looked at his feet. Blood was forming little streams under Marco's legs as they shook, struggling to support his frame after the endless climbing.

'Oooooh, that looks like it hurts' Heckapoo's eye twitched as she suddenly felt silly for feeling guilty. It was just him being stubborn after all, not her…right? Shaking her head, she pushed the conflicting thoughts aside.

"Congratz meat-bag, you made it to the ninth level, so now…"

"Give it back…" He cut her off mid-sentence.

Heckapoo bristled. He dared to interrupt her. She felt her temper flare up

"…Excuse me?"

"That stone…is not…for you…" Marco wheezed out between breaths as he held himself up by placing his hands on his knees. He looked up into her eyes…

Heckapoo held down the urge to look away. Living for so long, she had come across and experienced many different types of beings of the multiverse. By now, she could read the emotions in the eyes of those she was testing. It was an ability that helped her decide whether or not someone was ready to give up. When someone was near the point of insanity. When someone had become complacent with the knowledge that they would never succeed. The qualities of failure upon which seeing, she would forcibly end their trial and kick them out.

Marco's eyes betrayed none of those sentiments. What she did see was a sense hopelessness, not quite despair. He wasn't ready to throw in the towel.

His eyes were clear, despite the exhaustion. He still held clarity over his goal and his reasons. He wasn't near insanity, not even close.

Lastly, she could see the frustration. She could sense his feelings of inadequacy, of not being strong enough, but she didn't see acceptance. He still believed and desired to become better. He was a long shot away from being convinced of inevitable failure.

But none of those emotions gave her the urge to look away. In fact, they were pretty common in most of her candidates, at least early on. No, she saw something else, an edge in his glare…a sense of…danger. She would have laughed if she didn't find it so unsettling, that the little shrimp could command such a presence when he usually was the epitome of dorkiness.

Maybe the pain brought it out of him, she wasn't sure, but it was there. It had left a lasting impression on her. It was the kind of thing she would sense from battle-hardened warriors, not a little pipsqueak like him.

"Return it to me…please" Marco added politely, before falling flat on his face, collapsing from fatigue.

"Owwwwwww" he moaned pathetically.

And just like that, it was gone like it never even existed. Heckapoo mentally face-palmed.

'This kid is something else…' Heckapoo concluded, not really sure what to think about what she just saw. She doubted the boy even knew. He always seemed clueless.

"Hey meat-bag…" she tried to stir the boy from his self-absorb whimpering.

"…noooooooooooooo…" was the sorrowful reply.

"Ugh, stop being such a crybaby and get…"

"Five more minutes moooooooom…" Marco whined as he rolled over.

Heckapoo's eyes turned crimson. He had fallen asleep in such a state, in her very presence, when he had just demanded her to return the stone. All but teleporting before him, she raised her right and, like judgement from God, she brought it down to smite the sinner.

*SMACK*

She slapped the back of his head, all but setting his hair on fire as a nice shiny bald spot was engraved on it.

"OWOWOWOWOWO" Marco instantly awoke from his slumber stood at attention as fast as a bullet, trying to pat down the smoldering hair.

Delirious from being shocked awake, he stumbled around as he tried to figure out what was going on, before stepping on a stone that rubbed deep into the cuts on his foot.

"YEAAOWWWWW" his foot jerked away from the stone…causing him to slip and hit his head, the part with the shiny new bald spot, on the ground, where he started letting out a stream of half-curses as he rolled around clutching his skull.

Heckapoo stood by clutching the bridge of her nose with her fingers, wondering how such a pitiful existence had come this far in her trials. It truly was a miracle. But now this was getting tiresome, and she wanted to get back to her original purpose.

Slashing a hole into space with her scissors, she stepped through and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Marco was still absorbed in his own misery. Only when he just remembered how he got there, he heard the sound of a portal slashing open. Still rubbing his head, he looked up from the ground and saw Heckapoo stepping out of the portal, two very familiar objects in her hands.

"Catch"

Heckapoo tossed the fruits towards Marco, who barely caught them, as shocked as he was. He looked up at Heckapoo with gratitude, but then the gratitude turned to suspicion. He began inspecting the weird fruits very thoroughly, poking them in several places as if they might explode suddenly.

Heckapoo was at a loss for words. 'How suspicions can this boy be? I'm not THAT cold hearted, geez…'

She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Hey dum-dum, the fruits are fine. Just use them already"

Marco raised an eyebrow as if to sarcastically say: "Really?"

He really couldn't tell with this woman. One second he was chasing her up the mountain because she took something of his, the next she was helping him out. He looked at his feet, at all the cuts and blisters from climbing.

Hindsight is always 20-20, he shouldn't have taken off his shoes back then. He suddenly felt very stupid and sheepish. Yup, that was his own fault.

'Damn wet socks' Marco cursed them once again.

"Thank you Heckapoo, but why are you helping me?" Marco asked curiously, as he squeezed the juices from the fruit onto his feet.

Heckapoo folded her arms and looked at him squarely. She gave him an honest evaluation. "I'm tough, but not evil. You surprised me by making it this far. I didn't expect you too. Consider it your prize for reaching this level for the first time and for exceeding my expectations"

"Wow…" Marco winced as the cuts closed quickly. "…Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet, you still have a long way to go" She harrumphed while turning away. Heckapoo wasn't used to genuine gratitude from her contestants.

"Can I, um, can I have the stone back now? Marco asked tentatively, afraid Heckapoo would try running away again. He didn't think he had it in him to resume the chase today.

Spinning back around, Heckapoo shrugged and flicked the stone threw the air.

"Fine, it has no importance to me anyway"

Marco caught it with one hand, rubbing it with his thumb gently as he gazed into his own reflection.

Seeing the forlorn look in his eyes as he gazed at the measly stone, Heckapoo couldn't help but ask…

"Why is that particular stone so important to you?"

Heckapoo looked around the current landscape. At this level of the mountain, practically all the rocks, boulder, and pebbles were made of the same mirror-like material. Even the dirt had traces of reflective dust.

"There are tons of stones like that up here. What makes that one so special?"

Marco smiled as Heckapoo grew curious of his answer.

"You have any friends Heckapoo?

"Wha…che…OF COURSE I DO" she spat, feeling miffed that he would even insinuate that she wasn't popular.

Marco shook his head slowly, not taking his eyes of the mirror stone.

"I'm not talking about who you party with, or acquaintances you work with, or even people you like to talk too…I mean actual true friends. Ones that would do anything for you, and you for them. The kind that stick with you no matter what, even if sometimes you don't want them too"

Heckapoo opened her mouth to reply, then shut it, thinking hard. When she truly thought about it, she didn't have anyone like that. Sure she had some interdimensional friends that she hung out with at the bounce lounge on occasion, but they were at best pleasant company, at worst, annoying.

Then there were her "coworkers". Her companions on the Magic High Commission. She mentally rolled her eyes. They were all useless in her opinion with the exception of Queen Moon. Heckapoo felt that Moon took her job seriously, but was too busy running a kingdom to help her solve other problems. That crystal idiot was only helpful in sealing those that SHE caught, but he acted as if he did the fighting. The goat was nice, but she couldn't understand him, and Glosserrick was too annoyingly enigmatic, rarely saying anything that wasn't somehow a riddle.

No, she really didn't have any "true friends" like what Marco described. She suddenly felt lonely, and that was not a welcome emotion.

"…Well, I have one waiting for me back home, and this is for her when I get back" Marco smiled as he stood up pocketing the stone.

Heckapoo eyed him carefully. "It's Star Butterfly, isn't it? Queen Moon's daughter? You mentioned her once before…" she recalled from their first conversation.

Marco looked first looked surprised at the mention of her name, but then he smiled brightly.

"Yea, it is. I miss her, and I just hope she doesn't hate me for leaving so long when I finally come back"

Heckapoo felt an uncomfortable tug in her gut when she looked at Marco's warm smile. She couldn't identify the foreign feeling, but she didn't dwell on it.

"Well, it's gonna be a long time before you see her again, that is of course you, unless you want to surrender?" Heckapoo coyly smiled as she twirled her scissors around her finger.

Marco laughed loudly before pointing straight at Heckapoo.

"Surrender? HA! Never! Have you even been listening!? I will never give up! Neve-"

Marco's boyish declaration was halted as he fell through the ground…straight into the lake. Sputtering as he surfaced, he looked up at the portal in the sky to see Heckapoo laughing heartily.

Marco sighed before he began swimming in the direction of the shore.

"Oh yeah! Boy! Why didn't you show up this morning? Heckapoo suddenly yelled through the portal in the sky. She remembered that she wanted to know why after all this time of perfect attendance, he skipped their morning "chase".

Marco frowned, much to Heckapoo's surprise as his attitude did a complete 180.

"None of your business…" he grumbled as he swam away and ignored Heckapoo, who looked dumbfounded by the sudden cold shoulder.

'What the hell was that?' She thought as she "hmphed" and slammed the portal closed.

…

…

…

Appearing into her large tree trunk house, an irate Heckapoo kicked a chair across the room. The chair exploded when it hit the wall before bursting into little flaming debris.

'Who does that puny, little, insignificant punk think he is? Talking to me that way…' She thought as she struggled to control the flames dancing around her body.

'It was just a simple question…why the hell did he get so defensive? Gods!' Heckapoo simmered as she struggled to reign in her fiery temper. There was no need to get so worked up over a meat-bag like him. She decided she was just gonna chill with her cream puffs and watch some portal TV like she always did. At least being the clone in charge of dealing with him had its perks, she could come home every night unlike her other "sisters"

Plopping onto her couch, she opened the portal "network" and began browsing as she munched on the cream puffs she had on standby.

"LOSE YOUR MIND? WELL COME ON DOWN TO MARMADUKE'S MIND EMPORIUM! WE'LL FIND THE RIGHT MIND FOR YOU, OR YOUR MONEY BA-"

*Click*

"Lame…" Heckapoo sighed

"What a debate we have here folks! Tirana, can you please repeat what you just said?" The narrator asked with enthusiasm, holding the mike up to her mouth.

Tirana nodded and cleared her throat. She opened her mouth and began to speak.

"HAGHRFBGJYTDYTDHNSGJYTSFGBSFGJSTFGBFZSGJSRGHSBAHWRHSDFBADFRWTHASRHGRTHADFBDFFHARTHAEBDFBATHARTHDFGFHYSRGBADFHARTHADFBBZDFHSATTRHFYETIYUOOPTUOYUPTPIUFYWTRQRWRETRYTUIRYOTPIORUIEYUWTYRQTWERWRTRJKHJGHFGFZNMHJJCMXNBVCVBNHK"

"Fascinating…Grumbor, what is your reply to these accusations?" The narrator asked, moving the mike to the other creature.

Grumbor cleared his throat as well, and rebuked Tirana's argument.

"SDBDFBSRTHTRRSRTRYUIUTOIYUYRTYERTEWFDVBFSNMNBVFERYTEHUYRJDTHFGXDFGRTQ$W%Y$^U%I%UTKYLFJGMHNGDSHSUYLIFJGFHNGHTUIUKYDJGNHFGBNGMJKLUKTYURTYERHTSRYUTIOPIOUIYUTYRTWERGFDHFNGCMJHVJMCHNGFGTYUIURKYMDFHXNGDBHSTRTJKTDUYLIUIKHJFHFGNDBFSGAEHTJRYSKYTUDLYFYJGMFHNGBFAHTEJRKUTDYLIRRYKUTYJSHDFBVBMKJUTUJRSH"

The narrator looked at the audience in awe.

"Well, there you have it fol-"

*Click*

"Ughh, so lameeeee…" Heckapoo groaned.

A very enthusiastic bald man with a ponytail appeared on screen. He suddenly started ranting.

"ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF PILES OF OWLS CONSTANTLY BLOCKING YOUR DRIVEWAY? WELL THEN YOU GOTTA GET OWL TROWE-"

*Click*

"Omahgahd there is nothing onnnnnnnn" Heckapoo whined.

She continued to flick through channels, hoping to find something interesting. Unfortunately, today was not her lucky day.

"Gahhhhhhhhh" Heckapoo threw her scissors through the portal in her frustration, cutting off the TV. As she sunk down into her soft couch, supporting herself with the sides of the armrest, she began to look around her home.

The lava pool in the center connected to her forge, and it glowed brightly, illuminating the rest of her cozy little house. Although right now, it did not feel so cozy. Heckapoo could not put her finger on it, but something was off. She looked around her home…the hellfire kitchen, the large decorative wood dining table, the lava pool, the dimensional furnace, her bedroom…she kept looking around, but she could not figure what was off.

'Oh…' then it hit her like a sack of bricks. It was quiet… _too_ quiet. Her house was enormously… _empty_. Devoid of life. An obvious lack of family or friends. Even her other clone sisters were off doing various tasks. In fact, right now the real Heckapoo was sitting in a boring meeting with the magical high commission.

She frowned, suddenly the annoying twinge she was feeling made sense. She was _lonely_ , and all because of that stupid flesh-wad. His earlier comments had somehow taken root in her mind.

"GUAHHHHHHHHHH! That idiot! He's gonna pay!" Heckapoo screeched, feeling unwilling to let him off the hook for this offense. How dare he make her feel bad.

She slashed a hole into space, stepping into the swirling red void…

…

…

…

Meanwhile, Marco was chilling by the side of the lake, enjoying the warmth from the sun…or _suns_. At least he was pretty sure that that's what they were. After being sent back, he had found a new large rock to sit on, the last one being incinerated by his friendly neighborhood flamethrower.

His straw hat was back on his head, and the fishing rod in his hands as he waited patiently for something to bite. After falling in so many times, he was now certain there were fish in it. He _really_ wanted one. Finally, something different to eat then the damn fruits (although they were still delicious).

Marco licked his lips in anticipation. He hadn't had any meat for a _long_ time. Content to just sit there and fish for the rest of the evening (Heckapoo's chase took all morning), he was not expecting the sudden tearing sound a few feet to his right. Nor was he expecting a certain flaming demoness from stepping out of said "tear".

"What's up, _little boy_ ~?" Heckapoo asked as she stood there holding a box of what appeared to be… cream puffs…while looking as cool as a cucumber, as if nothing was strange that she suddenly decided to show up after sending him back. She _never_ showed up afterwards.

Marco frowned. Her emphasis of "little boy" made it immediately clear that she did not come with good intentions. After glancing at her warily, he returned to fishing with a passive face, unwilling to ruin his comfortable position on the rock.

If she felt pissed at Marco's silent dismissal of her, Heckapoo didn't show it as she walked next to him, portaled in a chair, sat down, and began munching on cream puffs.

After thirty minutes of the "silent" game, Marco began to feel the sweat roll down his back. Both had managed to maintain their silence, Marco fishing while Heckapoo sat there on her chair looking out into the lake, eating those damnable creampuffs. They smelt SO good to Marco.

'Maybe this is her ploy? To get me to start asking for those freaking creampuffs.' Marco grumbled in his mind as his stomach growled.

Marco was expecting _something_ to happen. Maybe Heckapoo would begin slapping him in the back of the head. Maybe she would throw a fireball at him or toss him in the lake. Hell, maybe she would simply explode, killing him in the process. She was only a clone after all.

Finally, Marco couldn't take it anymore.

"What?" He asked out of the blue.

Heckapoo didn't even pause her munching of creampuffs and replied without even looking at him.

"Why didn't you show up this morning?"

Marco clammed up, looking away from her.

"I already told you, that's none of your business"

Marco stopped talking, hoping that she would take the hint and go away, but then he heard a small sound, as if paper was tearing…

*Poke*

Marco was poked in the back of the head.

'What the…?' Marco swung his head around the locate the perpetrator, but there was nothing there. He swiveled his head over to Heckapoo with a glare of accusation, but she was still just sitting there, eating her cream puffs.

*Poke*

He was poked in his lower left rib.

"Hey!" He swung as fast as he could, but could not catch a glimpse of what poked him. Heckapoo stilled hadn't moved.

*Poke*

"What…"

*Poke*

"…the"

*Poke*

"…hell!"

*Poke*

"Stop…"

*Poke*

…it!"

*Poke*

"Grrrrrr"

*Poke*

The poking continued, no matter what Marco did. he could not see what was poking him, and even if he tried to spin around, he would just be poked in the back again. He was certain it had something to do with Heckapoo, but she still was just sitting there munching on her delicious smelling snacks.

"ENOUGH!" Marco roared as threw his hat and rod onto the shore before jumping back into the lake. Surely, whatever was doing this wouldn't be able to underwater, right?

'I just wanted to fish…is that too much to ask?' He lamented as he held his breath. Why today of all days?

Suddenly, a bright glow beneath him alerted his attention. It was one of Heckapoo's portals, and Marco eyes bulged out of his head and nearly lost his breath as he realized he was being sucked into it.

'Crap!' Marco thought just before falling in…

Only to be suddenly above the lake, falling. It was just like when Heckapoo sent him back, only this time, Marco could see another portal just above the surface of the lake. He fell through one portal, only to end up going through another. As he passed through the second portal at high speeds, he once again found himself high above the lake.

'Oh no…' Marco thought, horrified at what he knew was coming.

Heckapoo watched with smiling humor as the human boy fell came out of the top portal and fall right into another portal, looping him over and over. And what was even better was that his speed would increase. If was a fun little portal trap she used on people she didn't like.

At some point, Marco reached terminal velocity as was falling through the two portals too quickly to keep track of, so she waited patiently.

Not much later, she finally heard what she came her for. Marco's defeated cry.

"I-GI-VE-I-GIV-E-STO-P-IT!" Marco pleaded, unable to handle the burden of falling for so long. His cry came out choppy because of the delay between portals.

Smiling, Heckapoo pulled out her scissors…

Out of nowhere, the portals seemed to switch directions, and Marco found his momentum carrying him high into the sky, before plummeting back into the lake like a missile, creating an enormous splash.

Like a sack of goo, Marco crawled out of the lake shaking furiously before plopping down on his back. While he was breathing heavily, trying to recover from freefalling, he saw Heckapoo walk over out of the corner of his eye.

"Why didn't you show up today?" She asked the same question once again.

Marco frowned sadly and looked away, still unwilling to answer that question.

"You wanna resume free-falling?" Heckapoo asked, holding up her scissors for emphasis.

Marco shivered at that threat, and with a long-dispirited sigh, Marco finally caved.

"Because it's my birthday…"

There was a long silence. Marco was expecting her to either laugh so hard that she would cry, or to immediately make fun of him for something so trivial. Instead, her reaction was quite different.

"…birth…day? The heck is that?"

Marco's eyes widened in shock. He sat up and looked at Heckapoo, who eyes betrayed confusion.

'Wait a minute…'

"Heckapoo, do you know what a birthday is?"

Heckapoo didn't like his tone of incredulity, but she had to admit she did not understand what he was referring too.

"I mean, I am assuming that it is a _day_ of _birth_ , but why would that apply to you. You were not born today…so why would you celebrate it on this day?

'Holy cow, she really doesn't get it'

"Heckapoo, humans celebrate the day of their birth once every earth year. It's a special celebration for the person whose birthday it is. It's sort of a "thank you" ceremony, to give thanks for the person's birth. In other words, it's a celebration of someone's life.

Heckapoo hummed in thought. This was news to her.

"So yours was today then huh?"

Marco smiled sadly. "Yeah, normally I would be at home with my family and friends and we would party, but I'm still here. I guess I just wasn't in the mood to chase you today"

Marco suddenly had an epiphany. Heckapoo's earlier ignorance of birthdays made Marco think of something.

"Heckapoo…you've never had a birthday?

It was both a statement and a question, for Marco knew that if she didn't know about it, she couldn't have.

Heckapoo looked at the sad, almost pitying, puppy eyes from Marco and immediately felt uncomfortable, like she was being crossed examined. She became defensive.

"Yea I haven't. So what? It's not like I know about or follow any of your earthly customs. Why should I even care?"

She had been born with the universe, the living embodiment of the space between dimensions, hence her ability to move between them with ease.

Marco frowned and thought for a moment. Standing up, he walked over to where he tossed his stuff under Heckapoo's watchful eye.

'What's he doing?'

Marco thought for a moment before picking up his straw hat and nodding to himself. He walked back over under Heckapoo's scrutinizing gaze. She was now very perplexed by Marco's actions.

When he got back, he eyed Heckapoo with a hand on his chin, as if looking at a sculpture. Heckapoo had a giant question mark over her head as she tried to guess what his plan was. How did he even get a straw hat in the first place?

*snap*

A faint snapping sound caught her attention to Marco's straw hat. Marco had ripped two holes into the top of the hat. Looking at them, he glanced back up to Heckapoo before returning his gaze back to his hat. He nodded, as if whatever he did was sufficient.

"Here" Marco held out the straw hat.

Heckapoo froze, unable to fathom what he was doing.

"…what?"

"Happy birthday Heckapoo"

Heckapoo was shocked speechless. As if on autopilot, she gingerly reached out and grabbed the hat, holding it carefully as if it was about to explode. She examined it closely, particularly the holes.

Right away, she realized that they were approximately big enough and spaced out enough to account for her…horns. He had even thought of that?

"Why…? Why would you give this to me? Where did you even get it?"

Marco nodded, as if expecting these questions. He rubbed the back of his head.

"To your second question, I made it. Took, like… two months because I didn't know how to weave. To your first, I think everyone deserves a birthday… and generally birthdays mean presents, so…yeah. Plus, I have nothing else to give haha"

"But why…?" Heckapoo thought of everything she had done to him so far. She felt inklings of guilt flood through her which she tried to suppress.

"I keep you trapped here, make you chase me every day, make you…suffer" That was the word she wanted to avoid saying, but it seemed to sum up everything perfectly.

"Whoa whoa whoa… slow down there!" Marco held his hands up to stop Heckapoo's spiral.

"That is not how I see it. I mean yeah…you are kind of a jerk. You slap the hair off my head on a regular basis, you taunt me endlessly, and you make fun of my hoodie, WHICH is very fashionable by the way!"

Heckapoo frowned.

"…But it was all MY choice. You gave me plenty of chances to leave, and I didn't take them. You warned me that this could take a while, so I don't really blame you Heckapoo"

Feeling better at his words, she realized he was right…in a way. Still, he had given her a gift, she couldn't help but feel slightly bad about her previous actions.

"Besides, I am very close to the top. Pretty soon I will catch you!" Marco declared while striking a heroic pose.

Heckapoo snorted. "He may be sweet, but he is still a dork"

Unable to help herself, she placed the straw hat on her head which slid perfectly down her horns. The flame on her head was special, and wouldn't burn anything unless she willed it.

Opening a portal, she pulled out a hand mirror to admire herself.

Meanwhile, Marco gave her a thumbs up.

"Not bad! It suits you"

Heckapoo scoffed.

"As if you even understand fashion, _boy_ " She rebuked, but inside she was secretly pleased at the praise.

"Hey! It was a complement!" Marco pouted, a little peeved at being looked down upon once again.

Laughing at his pout, she couldn't resist. Messing with him was too much fun. Using her scissors, she cut open a portal…

Marco realized a split second too late. A red portal had opened up under his feet.

"Wha…Wait! N-" Marco's cry was cut short as he fell through, appearing just over the lake once again.

"GRRRR HECKAPOOOOOOOOOO" Marco roared in resentment as he plummeted back into the water with a loud splash. When he surfaced, he could hear Heckapoo laughing in the distance.

"Thanks for the gift…Marco!" Marco heard her say before she disappeared into a portal.

Marco choked on water when he forgot to tread, the realization that she actually said his REAL name for the first time, not meatbag or fleshwad or boy, making his mind short-circuit for a second. When he came to his senses though, he couldn't help but ask in bitterness… 'Did she really have to drop me into the lake again?'

Crawling back ashore, he looked up at the sky and saw that the day was nearing its end and it would get dark in less than an hour.

'I didn't even get to catch any fish today…' Marco muttered in his mind, a perpetual scowl on his face since his socks were wet again.

After taking them off, he slumped back over to his little stick-house after hanging his clothes on a nearby branch. Just as he got back, he smelt a whiff of something very familiar…something very… _delicious_.

Picking up the pace, he almost tripped and fell on his face out of shock when he found the source of the scent. There was a plain white box sitting on the ground in front of his tent, and when Marco opened it, he found it was filled with…

'Cream puffs' Marco's saliva went haywire. There was only one possible explanation for this.

Picking up the box, Marco found a little piece of paper underneath. Reading it, it said…

[ _Happy birthday, loser!_ ] with a little wink face at the end.

Marco smiled while rolling his eyes.

'Maybe she wasn't so bad after all'

Reaching inside the box, he pulled one carefully as if it was a precious gem worth millions, which to him it might well have been. He was astonished to still find them nice and hot.

Upon placing it in his mouth, his mind exploded. Flavor sensors long since dormant in his tongue exploded to life, creating an absolutely incredible sensation in his mouth. Marco sank to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

'Soooooo gooooooooood!' were the only coherent thoughts he had as he started to inhale the treats…

…

…

…

Heckapoo watched with a slight smile as the boy ate her gift like a man finding water after traveling through the desert for days. When he saw him cry tears of joy, she snorted and laughed.

'He is such a drama queen'

She waved her hand through the portal, cutting off the connection. Turning around, she took the straw hat off the top of her head carefully.

Looking closely, it clearly was the work of an amateur. The straw was clearly flayed in quite a few spots, and there were several gaps in the threads. The colors were uneven, and the inside had several pieces of straw loose that would cause itchiness. She loved it.

Whistling cheerfully as she spun it on her finger, she placed it neatly on her mantle in an obvious spot. Although the gift was sweet, she didn't need to wear hats anyway. Plopping down on the couch with contentment, she pulled out her "remote" and began to flip through the portals, hoping to find something good to watch.

The flame flickered warmly as it cast a glow onto the latest addition to the tree house. For the smiling Heckapoo, the lonely feeling that had surfaced earlier was gone, like it never even existed in the first place.

 **Author's Note: Any mistakes of typos, please let me know! I will have him onto the next trial by next chapter!**


End file.
